


Never Again

by Philosophizes



Series: Bad Decisions Series Backstory Fics [11]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Adults, Children, Humans, Mild Language, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2012-12-27
Packaged: 2017-11-22 16:33:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/611898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Philosophizes/pseuds/Philosophizes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>South Italy is at a wedding, and is emphatically <em>not</em> enjoying himself- mostly because of the groom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Again

“None of our other kids are allowed to get married. _Ever_.”  
  
He saw Antonio smile at him in the mirror’s reflection.  
  
“Aww, come on! You had fun planning this, didn’t you?”  
  
“I didn’t enjoy even one fucking _second_.”  
  
“What about half a second?” Antonio asked cheekily.  
  
Lovino turned on him, abandoning the knot in his tie that _wouldn’t sit straight and it was his daughter’s wedding and everything had better be absolutely_ perfect _-_  
  
“When I said I didn’t enjoy it, I meant I _didn’t fucking enjoy it!_ ”  
  
Antonio just hugged him tightly and plopped his face down on top of his ‘husband’s’ head.  
  
“I know you’re just being difficult, Lovi! You said you didn’t enjoy Vincenzo’s wedding either, but you got drunk halfway through and started laughing and crying and-”  
  
“Shut up!” Romano yelled, pushing Spain off. “And this is my _daughter_ -”  
  
“ _Our_ daughter, Lovi!”  
  
“-we’re talking about! It was _different_ with Cenzo!”  
  
“But you’re crying again!”  
  
“Bu- wha- I am _not!_ ”  
  
“Yes you are!” Antonio replied, and brushed his fingers against Lovino’s face to gather the few teardrops that were running down his cheeks.  
  
 _“Fuck.”_  
  
He spun around and rubbed furiously at his eyes.  
  
“Lovi, come on, it’s perfectly normal to cry at weddings-”  
  
“No it’s not, you idiot! Crying is for _funerals!_ ”  
  
There was a knock on the door to the small room they’d retreated to before the reception.  
  
“ _Padre_? _Papá_? Vasco showed up- with _beer_.”  
  
 _“What?”_ Romano exploded, yanking the door open to reveal his youngest son.  
  
“And I brought more flowers,” Nicodemo said weakly.  
  
“What does he think he’s doing?” Romano snarled, ignoring the overflowing ivy-and-rose bouquet in the boy’s arms.  
  
Spain inched past him and relieved Nico of his burden.  
  
“Where is he? He’s _trying_ to piss me off, isn’t he-”  
  
“Take the flowers,” Antonio said. “I’ll go talk to Vasco.”  
  
“ _Fuck_ that. I-”  
  
 _“Take the flowers, Lovino.”_  
  
He glared at Spain and Spain looked right back, his smile fixed on his face.  
  
 _Damn. He’s_ serious. _What the fuck does he think I’m going to do,_ shoot _him? He’s my_ son _!_  
  
But he knew he wasn’t going to win this.

“Fine,” he said, and snatched the bouquet from Antonio. The other man disappeared immediately, and Romano stomped past his Nico and across the hall into the reception room. He placed the bouquet on the end of the buffet table and carefully arranged the trailing ends of the ivy to cascade artfully down towards the floor.  
  
“And don’t you _dare_ disturb my flowers,” he told Alfred, who was already working his way through the food selections.  
  
“I’m not Alfred,” Matthew said in resignation.  
  
“I damn well _know_ that,” Lovino snapped, still glaring at America. “But don’t _you_ get any ideas either!”  
  
And with that he stalked off, sparing a very _special_ glare for Greece’s back.  
  
Across the room, his daughter spotted him and hiked her skirt up to charge across the mostly-open area of floor.  
  
“ _Padre_!” she said happily, giving the still-scowling man a tight hug. “ _Padre_ , I’m so glad you came I got a little worried after you went to Athens and screamed at Niki’s father-”  
  
Lovino patted his daughter’s back awkwardly and took a step back.  
  
“He’s still not good enough for you,” he said. “No son of that lazy cat-loving bastard could ever be good enough-”  
  
“Guiditta!” Antonio exclaimed tearfully, appearing from nowhere and throwing his arms around his youngest daughter. “You’re so grown up! My _pequeña Princesa_ is married now!” _  
  
_“I know, _Papá_ , isn’t it _wonderful_!” _  
  
_Romano grumbled and backed away- just to get tackled from behind. __  
  
“Fratello!” his brother exclaimed joyfully. “Wasn’t that just _beautiful?_ ” _  
  
_“I don’t get what everyone’s so damn _excited_ about,” he snapped. “Get off me!” __  
  
Feliciano just scooted around to his front, arms still locked in the embrace.  
  
“Oooh, but _Fratello_ , Ditta got _married_ and weren’t you _watching_ they're so in _love_ and her dress is so _pretty-!_ ” _  
  
_His daughter did, Lovino thought with a little pride, look stunning in her wedding dress. But that wasn’t the point. _  
  
_“She’s made me related to _Greece!_ ” he told his brother, trying to convey the utter, disgusting horror of the situation. _"_ It's bad enough that you went and made me _unwillingly related_ to _Germans;_ then Zell had to go and marry that- that _Frenchman’s_ son-” __  
  
“But Lovino, Rémy isn’t French anymore-”  
  
“Bull _shit_. He was _born_ French and he’ll _be_ French to the day he dies, no matter _what_ some stupid piece of paper says.” _  
  
_“And anyway, you were _already_ related to Heracles, Naples was a Greek city before Rome-”  
  
Romano clamped his hand over his brother’s mouth.  
  
“Don’t you __dare_ _ say that! It’s _not_ true, and if it _was_ she’d be _marrying within the family_ and _we do not do_ that sort of thing!”

Someone behind him sighed.  
  
“Cenzo,” a woman murmured. “I know that your younger brothers _mean_ well, but-”  
  
“Lorenza!” Lovino said brightly, turning. “ _Nuora!_ How have you been? Has Vincenzo been treating you properly?”  
  
She smiled back at him, distracted from her talk.  
  
“He’s been very sweet, _Suocero_ , thank you for asking.”  
  
“Ah, Lorenza, _bella_!” Veneziano chirped. “It’s lovely to see you today! Your charm just adds to joyful occasion!”  
  
“ _Zio_ , that’s my _wife_ you’re talking to!” Vincenzo exclaimed, sounding scandalized.  
  
“Vincenzo, if you didn’t want us complimenting such a stunning lady, you shouldn’t have brought her,” Lovino said, mock-scolding as he swiftly took his daughter-in-law’s hand and kissed it.  
  
“ _Padre!_ ” his son yelped, blushing.  
  
“Pfff, it’s not _my_ fault that you can’t romance a woman properly.”  
  
“I think he’s done a _fine_ job,” Lorenza said, taking his arm. “Do you know who did the wedding planning? It was _perfect_.”  
  
“Ah, I’m so glad you asked. I did.”  
  
“Well, it was stunning. You should be proud.”  
  
He winked at her.  
  
“Oh, I am.”  
  
Feliciano rolled his eyes.  
  
“ _Padre_? _Padre_ , can I take my heels off now?”  
  
Lovino was jolted out of his preening by his older daughter’s demanding question.  
  
“Wha- as long as it’s just your shoes! Don’t go imitating your uncle!”  
  
“I know better than _that_ ,” she said, pulling off her heels and dangling them from her fingers. She leaned closer to her father and whispered in his ear.  
  
“Don’t worry, _Padre_ , I took the beer off Vasco. He’ll have his one glass of wine tonight and I’ll sneak the bottles into _Onkel_ Gilbert’s things.”  
  
“Good girl,” he whispered back, out of the corner of his mouth. “But there’s no way in _hell_ that I’m letting _him_ be your uncle!”  
  
Catarina just smiled inscrutably and turned to her other uncle.  
  
“ _Zio_ , these are _really_ pretty shoes you gave me, but they also _really_ hurt.”  
  
“Oh no!” Feliciano exclaimed, dismayed. “Are your feet okay Cato? I can get you some ice-”  
  
“They’re not that bad,” she told him, standing on foot to massage the sole of the other. “I just need to sit down for a while.”  
  
“I’ll help!” Veneziano declared, guiding her toward the chairs as she protested that she didn’t _need_ any help.  
  
“Lovino, you should have said Lorenza was here!” Antonio said from somewhere nearby.  
  
Romano huffed.  
  
“If you hadn’t been so busy crying your eyes out for no good reason you would have noticed already!” he called back.  
  
Someone touched his arm and he turned, expecting to see his idiot ‘husband’ standing there-  
  
-But it was his new son-in-law.  
  
“Ah, Mr. Vargas,” he said. “May I- may I speak to you?”  
  
He glared.  
  
“You’re fucking doing that already.”  
  
“Um- somewhere else?”  
  
Lovino glanced around, saw that all the other guests were occupied with each other, and grabbed his sleeve.  
  
“Fine,” he said, dragging him off into a corner. “You have two minutes.”

He examined Nikephoros Karpusi closely –not for the first time- as the man gathered his thoughts. He didn’t look too much like his father, but Lovino could pick up the little hints of Greece in his features.  
  
“I know you don’t exactly… approve, of me wedding your daughter,” Nikephoros said after a few seconds. “But I _do_ love her, and I _will_ treat her right.”  
  
“Why should I believe _you?_ ” Romano demanded. “How would _you_ know how to treat my girl?”  
  
“I know I grew up without a mother, but I’ve known other married couples, and know how to act.”  
  
“None of those women are my daughter.”  
  
“But it gives me a place to start from,” his son-in-law said. “And I’m going to try my best.”  
  
Lovino took a deep breath and mustered up his best glare.  
  
“Don’t you _dare_ break her heart,” he said, jabbing Nikephoros’s chest. “You just entered into a sacred contract _under God_ , and you will fucking _honor_ that union with your entire being, or you _will_ regret the day you set eyes on my _Principessina_ , _capisci_?”  
  
“Yes, sir!”  
  
Lovino stood back and let himself relax marginally.  
  
“Where are you going on your honeymoon?”  
  
“Brazil.”  
  
“Decided where you’re going to live yet?”  
  
“Not quite yet, sir, but she says she’d like to stay near her family, so I was thinking maybe Naples?”  
  
Romano eyed him.  
  
“You’d better not be trying to suck up to me, boy!”  
  
“I swear I’m not, sir.”  
  
He sighed in annoyance and looked out over the wedding reception. The guests were drifting towards the food.  
  
“It used to be this sort of thing would merge countries,” he muttered.  
  
Nikephoros wisely opted to stay silent on the topic.  
  
“Well, sir, that’s all I really have to say, besides- thank you for coming.”  
  
Lovino snorted.  
  
“Yeah, right. Fine. Now get lost and give my daughter the best wedding day she could possibly want!”

**Author's Note:**

> Padre (Italian)- Father  
> Papá (Spanish)- Dad  
> pequeña Princesa (Spanish)- little princess  
> Fratello (Italian)- brother  
> Nuora (Italian)- daughter-in-law  
> Suocero (Italian)- father-in-law  
> bella (Italian)- beautiful, when speaking of a woman  
> Zio (Italian)- Uncle  
> Onkel (German)- Uncle  
> Principessina (Italian)- little princess  
> capisci? (Italian)- You understand?


End file.
